Zaha Hadid opens Europe's first city to mountain link

Award winning London based architect Zaha Hadid says she “imitated nature” when designing the five separate terminal structures which make up the new funicular link from the centre of Innsbruck to connect with the cable car at the Hungerburg station on the adjacent mountains.

The revolutionary new rail and cableway, the first in Europe to link `city shops to mountain tops’, started operating on Saturday 1st December. The project by Zaha Hadid encompasses the four terminals of the funicular rail link and a new bridge over the River Inn, an `S’-shaped steel construction with two 34 metre high pylons.

Ms Hadid, who was present at the opening ceremony in Innsbruck said her family has long standing links with Austria, having travelled there frequently as a child. In designing the Innsbruck project she focussed on `fluent lines’, to imitate nature through fluidity with water, which reflects the city’s beautiful and breathtaking scenery.

The new `Nordkettenbahnen funicular’ links up with a cable car at the Hungerburg station takes visitors from the city centre to the peak of the Hafelkar mountain in only 20 minutes up to a height of 2269 metres.

The new rail and gondola link up the Seegrube will make Innsbruck's Nordkette mountain region accessible both in winter and in summer.

For more information, visit Innsbruck.info.